Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Review
by John Sylva (DeWyNGaLe AT aol DOT com)July 29th, 2002
STAR WARS EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002)
Reviewed by John Sylva
A distinct moment in George Lucas' Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones causes you to realize how much the Star Wars franchise has lost since the original trilogy was released. Menacing bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison) rapidly fires at Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) from his trademark Slave I ship during a thrilling space sequence, wonderfully recalling the comparatively small scale action set-pieces of prototypical Lucas space battles that were exciting not because of the beefed up digital effects but because they were a glimpse of another world, whose time was a long time ago, whose place was a galaxy far, far away. What's most rewarding about this sequence is the use of the identical sound effects utilized in original Star Wars films for ships' rapid laser emissions, proving some pleasures are best left the way they are--a lesson Lucas perhaps should have learned before even considering the current trilogy.
Moments like these are few and far between in Attack of the Clones, a well-made picture that may improve upon tonal complications of The Phantom Menace but lacks the coherency of that last episode. The planet-hopping plot has no agenda other than progressing the trilogy, occasionally throwing in unrelated action sequences and lightsaber battles for distraction. One such sequence sees Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) pursuing assassin Zam Wesell (Leanna Walsman) through the bustling city Coruscant, bringing to mind the speeder bike chase of Return of the Jedi. Lucas stages the scene with comprehension of how to revive the classic Star Wars atmosphere yet at the same time fails to realize the unevenness a sequence like this brings. Clones, on the whole, is slow, brooding, and quiet, as it should be considering the thorough characterization necessary for the film to succeed. Since Lucas' script (co-written by Jonathan Hales) doesn't provide this depth in his characters though, the action becomes a relieving change of pace from the dialogue-driven other half, presenting the viewer with an almost impossible task of enjoying the epic battles despite their being out of place while disregarding a large portion of the plot.
Declaring this an animated feature as Roger Ebert did is wholly appropriate, but while advanced effects usually enhance a film's caliber, Lucas' is greatly damaged by them. Clones invests nearly fifty-percent of every shot in CGI-animation which may lead the director to feel he's further revolutionizing technology, while he's really just proving the incompetence of the craft. The effects are far from seamless, with several locations looking almost hand-drawn and others so unrealistically ambitious in design that they become bothersome. Any awe inspired by previous Star Wars locations such as The Empire Strikes Back's Hoth and Jedi's Endor came out of the otherworldly simplicity brought to them, not their visual complexity. Additionally, Lucas doesn't seem to realize how illogical the advanced technology seen in his universe is as the much more simplistic first trilogy chronologically follows the current one.
More thematically mature than Menace, Clones is concerned mostly with building a bridge between Episodes I and III when the ideal objective should be to simply deliver a prime-Lucas sci-fi bonanza of colorful characters and stunning action. Where the screenplay could have used the pre-A New Hope setup to achieve further insight into the origins of the Star Wars mythology as Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II did, Lucas limits himself to the sheer basics. He may succeed in suggesting the growing menace in soon-to-be Darth Vader Anakin, but the painfully obvious manner in which the director does so serves as a huge obstacle the film never overcomes. A trip to home planet Tatooine only to discover his mother has been killed by the Tusken Raiders, a laughable romance with now senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman)--contrivances to mature Anakin are on a strictly superficial level, with the extent of the character's emotional portrayal being a glimpse of anger set to the swells of John Williams' triumphant score. As Yoda might say it, preposterous this movie is.
GRADE: C+
Film reviewed July 28th, 2002.
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